Local man sentenced to four years in prison for shooting ‘bird-shot’ at father and daughter

COLUMBUS, Ind. — While sentencing a 74-year-old man for firing a shotgun at a neighbor and his young child, Bartholomew Superior Court 1 Judge James Worton said he was not happy with a plea deal worked out between the defense and prosecution.

“I don’t like this plea agreement,” Worton said in regard to being limited to a maximum four-year sentence for Jerry L. Lucas, whose address was listed as 6560 W. State Road 46 at the time of his arrest. “I’ll go along with it, but I don’t like it.”

In a rural area north of State Road 46 West near ABC Stewart Montessori School , Lucas – a Cummins, Inc. retiree who lived alone – admitted to firing his shotgun at neighbor Justin Stott last Thanksgiving evening, which was Nov. 24. Stott testified he was driving his 10-year-old daughter on a golf cart to track down the family’s cat when two shots were fired.

After hearing the first shot, Stott said he didn’t take the noise very seriously and eventually turned his golf cart toward the defendant, the victim testified.

“I saw Jerry in the light,” Stott said. “He pointed his gun at us and fired.”

Stott suffered a minor neck wound during the incident, he testified. To protect his daughter, he quickly drove into nearby woods and both got on the ground to protect themselves, Stott said.

When police arrived, Lucas entered his home and refused to come out, investigators stated in a probable cause affidavit. After a three-and-a-half hour standoff involving crisis negotiators and a SWAT team, Lucas was taken into custody.

Originally, Lucas was charged with attempted murder as a Level 1 felony. However, that charge was dropped when it was confirmed he was firing bird-shot from 30 to 50 yards away from the cart. Bartholomew County Prosecutor Lindsey Holden-Kay said bird-shot is seldom fatal at that range, so the attempted murder charge would not have held up in court.

In an order signed July 24, prosecutors allowed Lucas to plead guilty to battery by means of a deadly weapon, a Level 5 felony.

“It’s not attempted murder because of a stroke of luck,” Worton told Lucas. “It all depended on which gun you picked up.”

While testifying on his own behalf, Lucas said that while he saw the lights from the golf car coming up from his backyard, he never saw the child riding in it.

“I didn’t think about it,” Lucas said. “I turned around, went into the house and …”

The defendant did not finish his sentence. Further into the sentencing hearing, the judge shook his head regarding the case.

“What is wrong when someone steps on your property that you automatically feel you have a right to shoot them?” Worton asked.

When defense attorney Elliott Happel asked his client if he had anything to say to the Stott family, Lucas’ response was delivered in a matter-of-fact fashion.

“I’m sorry,” Lucas said. “I made a mistake. I overreacted.”

But Worton didn’t accept that because Lucas had said during a court services interview one week earlier that he was forced by Stott to fire at him.

“The victim forced it?” Judge Worton said. “You have got to be kidding me!”

Worton, who said he doesn’t believe Lucas is remorseful for his actions, listed four aggravating factors in the case.

• A history of delinquent behavior.
• The degree of harm significantly exceeds that required to meet the burden of truth.
• The crime was committed in the presence of a minor under the age of 18.
• The defendant had made threats against the Stott family.

The only mitigating factor Worton listed was that Lucas had plead guilty to the lesser charge. The judge also said he didn’t believe a defense argument that the two neighbors had a long-running feud.

Outside the courtroom after the hearing, Stott says he did not feel justice was done.

“As the judge said, we were lucky this was not a murder case,” Stott said. ” He (Lucas) was lucky it wasn’t attempted murder because his ammunition was not deadly.

While on the stand, Stott cited multiple incidents where he claimed Lucas has pointed a gun at him or threatened him. He cited a time that Lucas approached both him and his wife to tell them it’s too bad their children would have to grow up without parents.

At another time, Stott said Lucas approached him and imitated a gun going off after officers had left the scene of a reported threat by the defendant

“He said ‘bang,bang, bang!’ Thought I would shoot you? If you ever call police on me again, I’ll kill you’,” Stott testified.

The victim says he feels relieved that Lucas’ home has been sold, but his family worries about what might happen to someone else when Lucas gets out of prison and finds a new home.